Media devices, such as a set top box or the like, may be configured to concurrently present a plurality of different media content events to a user on a display using a mosaic video tile format. A mosaic video tile format is a media content presentation format that concurrently presents the video portion of the plurality of different media content events on the display using individually presented video tiles, wherein each of the presented video tiles (or portions thereof) are concurrently viewable by the user. The presented video tiles, interchangeably referred to herein as a video window, are typically presented using a region of the display that is smaller than a total display area of the display screen. Also, for a selected one of the plurality of different media content events, the audio portion of a presented media content event is also presented to the user.
The individual video tiles may have different sizes or may have the same size. With some video tile presentation formats, a smaller video tile will be superimposed over (presented over) a portion of a larger video tile. For example, when two different media content events are presented using a picture-in-picture (PIP) format, the smaller video tile will be presented over a portion of the full screen size image (here a full screen sized video tile). Here, the smaller video tile obscures the covered portion of the full screen video tile. Alternatively, the largest one of the video tiles may be smaller than the display area of the display such that one or more other video tiles are presented adjacent to the largest video tile using regions of the display that are not being used for presentation of the largest video tile. Alternatively, a plurality of equal sized video tiles may be concurrently presented on the display. For example, four or six equal sized video tiles may be concurrently presented on the display to the user. Any desired number, size, and/or presentation format may be used to concurrently present a plurality of different video tiles to a user.
However, configuring particular presentation formats of a mosaic video tile display may be a relatively difficult and time consuming task for the user in view of the many different available presentation format options that are available to the user. Further, in some situations, the user may prefer one type of mosaic video tile presentation format when viewing a particular genre (a class or category of media content having a particular form, theme, subject matter, production technique, or the like) of different media content events. At other times, the user may prefer a different mosaic video tile presentation format when viewing a different genre of media content. Thus, configuring a particular mosaic video tile presentation format based on the current user's viewing interests may be a relatively difficult and time consuming task for the user since a reconfiguration process may be required each time a different mosaic video tile presentation format is desired.
Also, selecting particular different media content events of interest is required of the user to populate each one of the different presented video tiles. For example, the user one day may be interested in watching a number of different sporting events (a first genre) that are concurrently being presented on different selectable channels of media content (different broadcasting stations, for example). Here, each video tile is used to present the video portion of a selected sporting event (based on the user selected channel, for example). Later that day, the user may be interested in watching a number of different news cast events (a second genre) that are concurrently being presented on other selectable channels. Reconfiguring the mosaic video tile presentation format to later present tiles of the selected news casts may be a relatively time consuming task for the user, even if the process of selecting a new different media content event for a particular video tile is a relatively easy task.
Further, one or more of the media content events of interest may have been previously recorded (stored) in a digital video recorder (DVR) of the media device, and/or may be available from another storage medium (such as a compact digital video disk, a flash memory drive, or video on demand source). For example, the user may be interested in watching a movie in one of the tiles that is available on a DVD or from the media device DVR while concurrently viewing the video portions of a plurality of concurrently broadcasting sporting events. Here, the video portion of the movie may be presented in a first video tile, and the video portion of the sporting events may be presented in other video tiles. Alternatively, or additionally, the user may be interested in playing a video game in one of the presented video tiles while watching the video portions of other broadcasting media content events. It is appreciated that the different viewing interests of any particular user at any given time, with respect to viewing the video portions of a plurality of different media content events using video tiles, are nearly limitless.
Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to enhance the user's experience for presentation of a plurality of different media content events using a mosaic video tile presentation format. More particularly, there is a need to make the process easier for the user to define and/or switch among different mosaic video tile presentation formats. Further, there is a need to make the process easier for the user to select the particular different media content events of current interest that are being presented in each of the different video tiles, particularly when the user is switching among different genres of media content events that may have use different mosaic video tile presentation formats.